Path of the Sheikah
by Angelwind
Summary: A somewhat dark fic. After the escape from the castle, Impa leads Zelda into the kingdom of the dead deep under Hyrule. What destiny is awaiting Zelda in the Sheikah Inner Sanctum? Will her life ever be the same?
1. Zelda walks the path

  
"I knew it would be you... I knew it would be you... I had hoped against hope that I would find the one, that the one would not be the very princess of Hyrule, but you are the one..." came Impa's deep voice, reverbrating off the corridor's walls.  
  
Zelda walked a little faster to keep up with the great woman's long strides and shivered as the cold dampness make her skin clam up. She rubbed the arm of her tunic and observed the picture around her. The corridor was obviously a catacomb of some sort and ancient bodies were stacked on shelves and the only sound that could be heard was the visible puddle nearby dripping. Zelda had thought the catacombs under Kakariko which Impa has guarded her whole would have some sort of sound, but of that there was none. Only the sound of death. She felt her lip trembling, but knew wherever Impa was taking her, it was for the good of Hyrule. Finally she was walking at a comfortable pace with Impa, who had slowed down, as if deliberating every step into the depths.  
  
"Link... he... he will be back soon, will he not?" stammered Zelda, "If Father finds out you 'kidnapped' me... I don't want anything to happen to..."  
  
Impa shook her head.  
  
"Child, you know as well as I that he will not return until seven years hence to fulfill the prophecy. And who will recognize you without your fancy clothes?"  
  
Zelda closed her eyes, and memories started returning to her. She was rather fond of her life as a princess, and she knew that not many people found themselves born into the life they wanted to live. Yes, however earlier years came to mind, days of ripping asunder her own clothes to climb the apple tree in the courtyard. She was unmanageable, running about the castle in her sleeping gown, pesting guard and servant alike with questions. Perhaps this is how she came to be in Impa's care - not only was Impa known as the most loyal caretaker of the Hylian royal family since her mother's own childhood, but she had a way of soothing even the most fierce of beasts or men with song or word.  
One of Impa's first amends was to allow Zelda to do the most uncouth things, such as climb trees or swim in the moat, as long as she wore plain clothes and did not dirty her feminine things. The King was initially displeased with this measure, but as Zelda was growing into a fine princess, he quieted himself and allowed Impa to take her own course without interference from himself.  
  
Impa pushed open a large heavy door, which seemed to groan under weight. Walking cautiously into the room, she saw several Redeads standing amongst rancid pools. Being a Sheikah, she knew she had little to fear from them, but her concern was with Zelda. She pulled out her Light Chain whip and banished them with a quick flick of her wrists. Not even dust remained of the lost souls. Taking Zelda by the hand, she lead her slowly across the room, toward a mossy staircase at the far end. She knew what she was going to do. This child... no, it was no mistake. She had the power of prophecy.  
  
Zelda felt odd... at first the air of darkness about this place made her cold and nervous, the torches never burning bright enough and the very air threatening as if to suck the soul of her very flesh.... Now she felt comfortable in the darkness. She could see well and could feel life beating within her with each step, telling her that her existance down here was as natural as the moss on the walls. She watched Impa walk over to a headstone and brush dust off it. Impa kneeled, as if paying respect to the dead souls that haunted these halls. She then stood up and faced Zelda, standing tall... But her usual intense eyes had a look of melancholy to them.  
  
"Zelda, I am Sheikah."  
  
Zelda nodded.  
  
"Yes, Impa.. You told me that when you first taught me what had become my bedtime song."  
  
Impa looked at the wall above Zelda, as if the words that were to soon emerge were hard.  
  
"You have learned that the Sheikah are a race that had dissapeared, a race that lived to protect the Hylian royal family. That was never true... you see...."  
  
Impa looked at Zelda, who had taken a step back, looked at her straight in the eyes with an intense look, fire burning within her pupils, her lips curled a bit as the words flowed out like cinders from a dying fire.  
  
"The Sheikah were never alive to begin with. We are a race... of the dead and spirits. We are not born, we are made. After I had lost my closest friend, your great grandmother, I had sought her out in this very tomb you see before you. The tomb close to my hut in what is now going to be Kakariko Village. My devotion to her had lead me to the discovery that I was the incarnation of a guardian Sheikah spirit, Impa."  
  
Zelda felt like someone had shoved her. Her caretaker, the powerful woman with a gentle heart, was well over a century old. Not only that, but...  
  
"If you're not Impa, who are you?"  
  
She remained silent for a minute.  
  
"It matters not anymore, for I am the same soul that has guarded you for all your past incarnations. I am the Guardian Sheikah for the Prophet."  
  
Zelda remained quiet.  
  
"It will be easier for you to see for yourself. Come and stand here, before the monolith before you."  
  
Zelda took each step slowly, toward the large headstone. The giant eye on it intimidated her as she stood before it. As much as she wanted to look away, the eye compelled her to stay. A wind began to blow, wind that should not exist this far underground. The eye slowly seemed to become less harsh and the harp began to pick up a bit in melody. It played a strange tune - a seven note one that Impa had taught her that played when a Sheikah secret was revealed. A door opened behind her with a loud groan, but she did not flinch. More and more things were making sense.  
  
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	2. The tragedy of Sheik

  
  
Sheik did not even draw a breath. This dream... it must be true. His dreams were always true. This did not bode well for him. He sat up on his mat and breathed long and hard, holding his knees. This was not right. This was a violation of tradition. A violation of the path a Sheikah was to take. He looked over the text again from his night stand.  
  
_"The Sheikah are a race of the dead. They are not born, they are made. The Sheikah are the protectors of Hyrule and the protector of the heart of the Royal Family. The reincarnation of a Sheikah to come and reclaim their selves will never stray from the Sheikah's original body. The Sheikah are to never manifest themselves in the Royal Family lest death be brought upon Hyrule."_  
  
Sheik sat there, shaking more... It was not from the frost that was just outside his hut, but it came from within. As he predicted when he was a child, he had grown up with and protected the captain of the Hylian knights, Link, who Sheik knew, by Destiny's whisper, would turn out to be the Prince of Hyrule. With his job done, he was forced to leave Link's side and spend the rest of his days in his home in the hills of Kakariko. The sadness only filled him and he would have to fight the tears from spilling. But this time it was no use. He knew he loved Link and wanted to dream of him... but the dream would not come. Until tonight. Already Sheik, hero he may be, had violated the teachings by falling in love with the Prince of Hyrule and if this were to be found, he would be an outcast... The tears would not stop and he had to wipe them on his blue sleeve. Only his harp could bring any pleasure to him anymore.  
  
Then came the dream. A dream about three forces.... a dream about a boy without a fairy.... It was Link, no doubt. He was to meet Link again, which made his heart bound and a smile sneak upon him. But in this destiny, Sheik's transgressions would soon multiply upon himself the dream he just had.  
  
He was to be reborn as a member of the royal family. Never such a thing had been heard, it was against the Path of the Sheikah. If that were all Destiny had decided, perhaps it turn out all right as a necessary evil. But no, this was not to be all.  
  
"Princess Zelda...." he said softly, testing each syllable of the word with his tongue gently.  
  
The sense in him that told him to panic was repressed, as if Destiny were gently floating him away from his duties as a Sheikah, as the famous Sheikah Prophet, and back to himself. He had already violated gender by loving and holding Prince Link, to him it was no stretch to become a woman under the hand of Destiny. But this had never happened before - even if a Sheikah had even become a Royal family member millenia before, never had there been a gender difference between the reborn body and the soul of the Sheikah.   
  
Sheik had decided to reveal his revelation to his people, but he was to be careful on how he worded it. He would bring no mention that he was going to be a royal family member. He was going to be especially careful not to let it be known that he would become a woman.  
  
This would have been a travesty, you see. The Sheikah's bodies are reborn, and some day they are lead - whether it be on their own, or preferably guided by an older Sheikah - to the heart of their own catacombs to be given the form and soul of their Sheikah selves. Permenantly. How traumatic it would be for a young man or woman to finish their journey deep under Hyrule to be given the bodily form and soul of someone that contradicted who they were! How could this be?  
  
  
.....  
  
  
This was something Impa had thought about many times when looking upon young Zelda. Impa had hoped that this was not to be. A century ago, when Impa had her first and only child, she thought perhaps this child would grow to be Sheik. The oracle in the temple under Kakariko had told her a child she'd raise would be Sheik's incarnation - the one that would have the vision of the Triforce and would join with the Boy Without a Fairy to save Hyrule.  
  
The child died of disease before he ever reached the age of three.  
  
It did not take long - Impa knew even before Zelda had one of Sheik's famous prophetic dreams that she was the one the oracle had spoke of.  
  
Zelda was walking confidently on her own. Impa knew that the force alone was now leading her and it would be on her to keep up with Zelda now. Zelda's expression of uncertainty had become one of determination. Zelda rattled open a door which fell off it's hinges and a dead room stood before her. It was a room never meant to be underground. Light flickered upon broken bits of wood and a bed that had been eaten away. A worn, but still alive tapestry of the Sheikah eye stood above the bed. It was a house or hut that had been perfectly preserved over a very long time and had somehow found it's way underground. Impa stood outside the door, as if not daring to enter. Very quietly and deliberately, Zelda, whose hands were trembling as if a winter chill had taken her, went through an old chest at the side of the bed. Inside.... inside...  
  
Was a broken harp. Running her small hands over it, she felt strong emotions come from her. Every curve, every contour, she ran over it and her face twitched and contorted and tears flowed like rivers. She didn't understand why she cried, but she cried long and hard.  
  
"Link.... you... you went away...." she said, sniffling, "you won't be back.... you... you won't be BACK!!!"  
  
Impa, taking a deep breath, walked in and crouched next to Zelda, who immediately threw herself at Impa. The tears would not stop. It would not stop. Zelda quivered and beat her fists against Impa's shoulder.  
  
"Child...." whispered Impa, putting an arm around her.  
  
Zelda sniffed and hugged both harp and Impa closer to her.  
  



	3. The Story of Sheik ~ The Legend of Zelda

  
Daylight had come when the two stepped out of the abyss. It was just before dawn when the sky was a dull blue and pink. Sheik went first, and Impa followed slowly behind, unsure of what to think or do. Sheik held the harp closely - he had every intention of using some of the spare time until Link returned to giving the thing much needed repairs. It gave him pleasure as he looked forward to playing many songs alongside the Ocarina of Time. He was still small, however, considering that his birth body was a child when she activated him.  
  
"Princess...." said Impa in a shaky voice, "will you be all right?"  
  
Sheik pulled the scarf tighter over his face, giving it an impression of a veil almost.  
  
"I was the 'violating' exception in more than a few ways," he said - by the gods, his voice sounded just like Zelda since Sheik hadn't hit puberty, "one of those is...."  
  
In a flash of light, Zelda again stood before Impa, dressed as she was when she first walked into the darkness. Her eyes were determined and she still held her harp close with a tight, tiny hand. Hylian birds were chirping and fluttering from gravestone to gravestone and the crickets from the night before finally saw fit to quiet themselvevs. Impa fought the urge to hold Zelda, to tell her she was sorry for bringing such a thing upon her. Zelda, as if reading Impa's mind spoke up.  
  
"I am Princess Zelda... I am part of the Triforce, as Sheik predicted a long, long time ago. I have a destiny to fulfill."  
  
Impa couldn't believe what she was hearing. Yes, she knew Zelda was part of the Triforce and she knew inside that Sheik had been reborn into her, but hearing Zelda say that in a voice that completely lacked the childish innocence she had only a day before made tears begin to well up. They began walking up a hill on the trail back to Kakariko and stopped near a clump of trees to watch the sun rise. She found herself next to Sheik again - how quickly Zelda could do that!  
  
"When a Sheikah takes a body, usually the former identity is crushed to fulfill the purpose of their incarnation. I do not even remember being anyone but Impa. Why was my precious child spared this fate?"  
  
Sheik sighed as the scarf came down again to reveal his mouth. He'd need to do some growing before that thing fit right.  
  
"Because I realized that Sheik's time is over. This is her time now. The legend of Zelda has just begun..."  
  
As the words left his lips, the sun had peeked over the horizon, filling Hyrule's sky with light. Sheik gasped in wonder and Impa held him tightly. The light made Sheik's heart that had been left so cold for so long suddenly feel warm and full of hope.  
  
"Perhaps in time, Sheik will be nothing more than the boy that Zelda can become when she is feeling tomboyish. Then my duty will have truly been done and I can rest in peace... I can live every day by Link's side."  
  
Impa looked back over the child to see herself holding Zelda again. Zelda was using her shirt to clean the harp while watching the sun rise to greet the sky.  
  
"Impa, this will work out great!" she said enthusiastically, "if that horrible man returns, all I have to do is become Sheik and he'll never know the difference!"  
  
Yes, that was it... that was the innocence that Impa thought had left Zelda forever. How though? How could being infused with a Sheikah spirit can Zelda still laugh and cry and be merry? But here she was, with a harp, looking happier than she had ever looked in the many years Impa had ever taken care of her. But then... yes, it made sense. Zelda was skipping down the hill and Impa following, Impa understood. Sheik's soul had been trapped in Zelda, a deep melancholy that had not been excorsised until now. Now that Sheik's pain, after centuries of dwindling, had vanished... the lost, new, confused soul that was Zelda had finally merged with the wise, benevolent Sheik to become a whole person.  
  
Zelda had followed the path of the Sheikah like many before her, but this time unlike every time anyone had before, she had overcome it! She had not only crossed the path, but conquered it. Here she was, as happy a young girl as she had ever been before her life was interrupted by prophecy. Impa knew now that Zelda was far from being the frail, nervous child that had seemeed to appear on the surface... No, Zelda was stronger inside than anyone Impa had ever known, including herself. Once again facing the monument with the eye that had marked their entrance into the underworld, Impa knelt and made a silent prayer - a prayer that Zelda, and consequently Sheik, would live a long and happy life.  
  
  
And thus, the Story of Sheik came to it's close and the Legend of Zelda had begun.  
  
  
  
  
  
Author's Afterward: I always loved the parallel of Zelda and Sheik, one and the other, like two sides that worked together as one. I had long suspected that Sheik was not just something Zelda became to "hide from Ganon". I figured for a long time Zelda became him in the nature of fun as well, to be treated as someone different from the beautiful fragile princess that Link would protect and be treated as an equal in every respect: another young boy on his own quest. I also believe that Sheik is male where "it counts" too, not just some clothing swap. Super Smash Brothers Melee answered my prayer where Zelda would go back and forth in midfight, with completely different abilities. Sheik's Trophy even said that it was not just a clothing swap: that there were "physical differences" such as "skin or eye color". If you read between the lines, it confirms what I was hoping. This was all I needed to get started on a fanfic about how Zelda became Sheik - its not the first one done, admittedly, but I didn't see too many that implied that Zelda and Sheik were a full change of sex. Thats just something "Nintendo, being for the kiddies, would not do".  
  
Anywho, if more of my TG fics turn out like this, I'll be very very happy indeed. Thank you for reading!  
  



End file.
